


The Raid

by enbyred



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Area 51 Raid, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, F/M, and here i am, listen, my friend asked me to write this months ago
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-20
Updated: 2019-09-20
Packaged: 2020-10-24 10:57:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20704856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enbyred/pseuds/enbyred
Summary: Callum joins the Area 51 raid so he can free the elves trapped inside.





	The Raid

**Author's Note:**

  * For [f00die_rish4v](https://archiveofourown.org/users/f00die_rish4v/gifts).

“We’re missing the raid!” Claudia whined as Callum used wire cutters to create a hole in the high fence.

There were screams in the distance. Claudia and Soren may have wanted to be in the thick of the raid, but Callum’s interest was in actually succeeding, not getting stunned and arrested.

“Do you want documentation of government cover-ups or not?” Callum hissed, removing the piece of the fence and tossing it aside. “We go with all the Kyles, and we’re going to get tazed and thrown in juvie.” He didn’t mention that Soren was old enough to actually go to prison.

Claudia huffed and went along, crawling through the hole in the fence, Soren following behind. Step one was complete. Now they just had to find a way inside the building. Hopefully the ground wasn’t rigged with bombs or stun weapons.

“Aww.” Soren’s shoulders slumped and he pointed at a few people unconscious on the ground. “I was hoping to take out some guards, but somebody’s already gotten to them.”

Unconscious guards? Perfect.

“You can take some out when you get your tech,” Callum told him, grinning. He took off toward the guards and hissed behind him, “First we take their uniforms.”

Squealing, Claudia chased after him. “Brilliant, Callum!”

They dragged the soldiers into blind spots of any cameras, and got the uniforms off them. Callum’s was much too big for him, and Soren’s was too small. Claudia was the only one whose uniform was a functional size, if baggy. But the best and most important thing about the uniforms was that they came with ID cards that could scan them in.

A nearby door was unmanned, all the guards distracted by the horde of Naruto-running Kyles on the other side of the facility. This was too easy. They’d get in, free elves, get proof of government cover-ups, steal some alien tech, and be out before anyone realized they weren’t supposed to be there.

Soren swiped his stolen ID, and the lock pinged a green light, allowing them to open it and rush in.

“We’ll split up,” Callum whispered. “I’ll find the elves, you two find the texts and tech. We meet back here in twenty minutes. If any one of us isn’t back in twenty minutes exactly, whoever is here still leaves.”

With a nod, Soren confirmed, “Got it.”

Claudia looked like she wanted to protest, but thought better of it.

The three parted, and Callum started sprinting through the facility as fast as his legs would carry him. Doors were labeled, telling him which rooms held files, which rooms had special keys needed to get into restricted areas. He would probably need one of those. But he didn’t have the time. If it was true that they were holding elves prisoner here, then his first priority was finding them. He could figure out how to get them out.

He skidded to a stop in front of a door labeled "Containment," and his heart beat faster. This was it, this had to be it.

Fumbling with his ID, he swiped it at the lock, and it flashed a red light, denying him access. Of course. Of course the person whose clothes he stole wouldn't have access to where the elves were being kept, when the only thing he wanted to do was meet and free them.

Okay, lockpicking. He could do that, right? He could figure it out?

Looking at his phone, he saw that he only had fourteen minutes before he had to be out of the building. That wasn't enough time to figure out how to pick the lock. There had to be some way to get in, something he could do!

Or maybe there wasn't. This place wasn't renowned for its high-security for nothing. Why would a key card swipe from any officer get him into the containment area?

Maybe his plan wasn't as well thought-out as he believed it had been. It was stupid to think that he could go up against a faction of the military trained specifically to keep the things in the facility secret and protected.

Then again, they really hadn't been able to stop everyone.

Pounding footsteps down the hall made Callum jump and look around frantically for a place to hide, but nowhere presented itself - he was in the middle of a hallway without any turns, save for the one those feet were about to come around. This was it. He was going to get caught and hauled off to juvie. His life as he knew it was over. He went rigid, bracing himself for what was inevitably to come.

The person who came into view, however, was no officer. She had dark skin with golden markings on her face. And pointed ears. And horns. This was an elf. A real elf, not being held captive!

She stopped and glared at him for a moment, then looked him up and down. Seemingly noticing that his uniform was too big for him and thus must not be his at all, she tossed him a taser, then pointed a high-tech gun at the lock, blasting it to bits. She opened the door and nodded for him to enter before her.

"We don't have much time," she said. "We've got to get them out fast."

"Right," Callum acknowledged, bursting into the containment area.

There in front of him was a (probably bulletproof) glass containment area with six elves inside. As he looked to the left, he saw that there were other cells just like it. How many elves did they have in here?

It didn't matter. All that mattered was that the government was holding  _ any  _ elves captive, and he was going to free them.

The elf behind him began her work in shooting the locks to the containment cells, making all the elves inside jump and try to figure out what was going on.

Opening the door to the first cell, Callum gestured to the hallway. "You're free! Come on, we're getting you out of here!"

One elf, a girl not much older than he was, rolled her eyes.

"Sure," she began, "like we haven't heard that one before. 'Come on, you're free, this definitely isn't a trap meant for us to laugh at you!' We're not idiots." She turned away from him.

His heart sank. He only had a maximum of twelve minutes to get them all out, and they were going to resist? None of the others in the cell were jumping up, either.

"I'm not an officer," he desperately explained. "There's a bunch of us trying to get you guys out today - there are tons of people out front distracting the guards with their Naruto runs, and that means that we can get you out! Please, just come with me!"

The girl snorted. "Show me the Naruto run. My money’s on you not having any idea what it even is."

He froze for a moment, baffled. That...wasn’t the reaction he expected.

“Well?” she prompted, then clapped her hands. “Naruto run for me, human.”

As much as he did Naruto run ( _ ironically _ , he swore it was all ironic), it felt even stupider than usual to lean forward, arms extended behind him, and take a few quick steps. The girl laughed, standing up and crossing her arms.

An amused smile on her face, she said, “There’s no way that’s Naruto running. You’re Sasuke running at best. And, since you clearly have no knowledge of Naruto, that means that you’re making an absolute fool of yourself.”

“Yeah, obviously,” he retorted. He meant for his tone to have at least a bit of bite to it, but for some reason, he couldn’t manage that against her. “Do you believe me now?”

She shook her head. “Nope. Not good enough. But thanks for the laugh.”

"Rayla." Another elf, a man with the longest hair he’d ever seen, nodded toward Callum, the expression on his face saying that he would rather be anywhere but caught in the middle of the exchange. "I don't think he's lying. Look at how young he is, he's got to be younger than you."

"Then how did he get in?" the girl named Rayla spat. "You've seen how tight the security is, there's no way a kid without any military affiliation would be able to just sneak in and set us free-"

"Get off your asses." The elf who had let him in was standing in the doorway of the holding cell, arms crossed. "Name's Janai. I had inside help from my girlfriend Amaya so we can get you out. The human's telling the truth."

Rayla’s jaw dropped. She spluttered for a moment before the man stood and assessed the two in the doorway, eyes narrowed.

"We'll go with you," he said, "but if you turn on us, then you can count on the knowledge that you won't see another day." He started toward the door, and Callum and Janai stepped aside.

"Fine," Rayla muttered, trailing behind him. She cast Callum what was probably supposed to be a glare as she passed him out of the containment area, but it looked more curious than angry. He could understand why she was skeptical of him - humans had been the ones to throw her and her companions in here, and there was no way they'd been treated kindly. At least Janai had been there to help her to trust that he meant well.

Leading the way through the halls, Janai directed the group outside, keeping an eye on the hallways to see if anyone was coming to stop them, and she had her blaster ready to defend them if needed. Callum's heart was racing faster by the moment as they made their way back to the door he'd entered through. They were going to make it, and all of these elves would be free, exactly like they should be. The stupid raid was going to work!

"Wait!" Rayla stopped in her tracks and whirled around. "The dragon!"

"What?" Callum tried not to screech as she started running back toward the containment area. She was unarmed - going off by herself was suicide. What was she doing?

Before he could think about it, he was chasing after her, readying the taser Janai had given him. The least he could do was be her defense. If the dragon was that important, he would help free it.

"Keep going," he called over his shoulder to the group. "We'll catch up!"

When he caught up to Rayla, she insisted, "You don't need to protect me, I'll be fine."

"You're unarmed," he pointed out. "This is all crazy dangerous, and I'm not letting you do it alone. Show me where the dragon is, and we'll get it out."

She didn’t deny his offer of help, but let a beat pass between them before asking, “Why are you even doing this?”

As they reached a heavy door, Callum replied, “Because it’s wrong to keep you in here. It’s wrong to imprison anyone for who they are or where they’re from. You deserve to be free, and I want to see that happen.” With a cheeky grin, he told her, “If I survive this and can get enough people on board, the camps at the border are my next stop.” He activated the taser and braced himself before jamming it into the electric lock.

Miraculously, the lock turned over, and the door swung open, nearly hitting Callum in the face. He bolted in and saw a single glass cell holding a tiny dragon, curled up on a table in the middle of the room. He didn’t react to Callum’s presence.

“Keep watch, Rayla,” he whispered, approaching the cell. 

Her hand landed on his shoulder and she shook her head. “Let me get Zym, he’ll be quicker to trust me because I’m not human.”

Handing the taser over, he said, “Good call,” and slipped away to watch for guards. He heard the sound of her breaking the lock with the taser, and a surprised squeak from the dragon named Zym.

She ran out the door, Zym on her shoulder, and tossed the taser back to Callum, calling, “Come on, we don’t have much time before we’ll be cornered. I know where Zym’s mother lives, and if we get out, we - or, I - can return him to her.”

“We’ll make sure he gets back,” Callum assured her, running ahead over her to lead the way back toward the exit. They were so close, and he still had three minutes to spare before Soren and Claudia were supposed to be leaving! It was going to work, they were going to make it!

“There you are,” a voice growled from a hallway they passed.

Callum tried to keep running, but he heard the second set of footsteps stop. He turned, and saw Rayla completely immobile, stopped mid-run, while a soldier pointed what looked like a gun at her. That must have been what was keeping her in place. He tightened his hand around the taser. If he could get the weapon away from the soldier…

“Take Zym,” Rayla told him through gritted teeth. “My Uncle Runaan can take you to Zym’s mother. Go, get out of here!”

The soldier glared at him. “You idiots aren’t going anywhere.” He pulled out a pistol and pointed it at Callum, who quickly sidestepped and plucked Zym off Rayla’s shoulder to hold him against his chest.

“I’m not leaving you,” Callum whispered, pointing the taser at the soldier. “You’re gonna walk free today.” 

“Then tase him  _ fast _ ,” Rayla grumbled.

But he couldn’t. He wanted so badly to activate the taser and to make this soldier suffer for what he and the others had done to innocents like Rayla and Zym, but the soldier was quicker than he was. He couldn’t move enough to tase him. He couldn’t do anything.

Rayla was free, though, which meant he could only immobilize one of them at a time. That would be great if she wasn’t also refusing to leave him behind.

More heavy footsteps were running down the hall. More soldiers. In just a few seconds, he and Rayla were going to be mown down by cruel soldiers who had no respect for any life other than human. His heart thundered in his chest, and his breathing became quick and shallow. He was going to die here, and he couldn’t even try to get away.

“I’m sorry,” he managed to Rayla, his voice breaking.

She snatched the taser from his hand and stood behind him to avoid getting immobilized again, then aimed the taser at the soldier, successfully hitting him in the stomach and eliciting a shriek.

Callum felt the invisible force leave his body, and he grabbed Rayla’s hand to pull her along toward the door.

Where three more soldiers were waiting for them.

“We can’t get out of this,” he choked. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, we’re not going to make it!”

“Don’t get so defeated yet,” Rayla encouraged, poised for a fight. “I’m a trained fighter.”

A soldier scoffed. “One little elf fighter against three soldiers? I don’t think so.”

Callum squeezed his eyes shut, afraid of what would happen next.

There were three shouts, none of the voice belonging to himself, Zym, or Rayla. He opened one eye and saw all three soldiers on the floor, unconscious. Soren and Claudia stepped into his line of vision, Soren brandishing a large weapon, a grin on his face.

“Let’s go!” Claudia prompted, waving them along. The door was only a few seconds away. As long as they got out of the building and off of Area 51 grounds, they were home free!

Claudia swung the door open, and they found a military van overflowing with the elves they’d just freed. Janai waved for them to join, and the four of them - five including Zym - crammed themselves into the van. They’d barely gotten into the vehicle when the driver stepped on the gas, eliciting screams from everyone on board. They were thrown from side to side as they swerved over the bumpy terrain, trying to avoid land mines and being shot.

The elf Rayla pointed out as her Uncle Runaan said something Callum didn’t understand, and all shots toward their van stopped. Callum blinked, confused.

“He cast an illusion,” Rayla explained, smiling up at her uncle. “We’re gonna make it.”

Callum sighed, closing his eyes and relaxing with his back against Soren’s. They had actually gotten out with what they came for. Soren and Claudia were gushing to each other about the tech and the documents, and the elves were chattering excitedly that they were finally leaving. Callum was just glad that he and everyone else survived.

“Hey.” At her voice, Callum opened his eyes to see Rayla in front of him, a gentle smile on her lips as she took his hand in hers. “Thank you. It means a lot that you risked yourself to save people you don’t even know.”

“I’m just glad that it  _ worked _ ,” Callum breathed. “And if you want...if it’s okay…” He hesitated for a moment, and didn’t meet her eyes when he said, “I’d like to get to know you.”

Her eyes widened, just slightly, before her expression lit up. “I’d like that, Callum. Maybe I can show you how  _ actual _ Naruto running works.”

**Author's Note:**

> Idk what to say for myself, but yknow what, this was fun.


End file.
